Property appraiser wins lawsuit

Case-by-case reviews needed, judge rules

October 27, 2007|Staff report

A judge backed Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits on Friday in his lawsuit to force the Value Adjustment Board to follow its own rules and find "good cause" on a case-by-case basis before granting taxpayers a second review of their property tax assessments.

The ruling by Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley said the board could not move forward simply by granting those taxpayers seeking a second hearing the permission to do so "en masse."

"There is no question that the VAB did not follow its own rules ... when it voted to grant second administrative hearings en masse," the judge said in a 10-page ruling.

Attorneys for the Value Adjustment Board argued that wording in the board's rules gave it discretionary power in how to handle the recommendations of the special magistrates the board uses to conduct hearings on property tax challenges.

Nikolits sued the board in March after it voted on Feb. 26 to grant a group of more than 300 taxpayers the right for a second hearing on their cases.

"The court concludes that the defendant VAB may not act on requests for review from a magistrate's recommendation without a case-by-case review," Kelley ruled.

In ruling the en masse order "invalid," the judge said the taxpayers involved are "still entitled to their requests for review to the VAB for individual consideration."

Nikolits and the property appraiser's legal office could not be reached for comment.